Parents, states press Congress to act on kids online safety bill

WASHINGTON — Parents whose kids died allegedly because of social media content are pushing lawmakers to require tech companies to alter practices to minimize such harms.

Attorneys general in more than half of U.S. states support the same legislation, saying “many social media platforms target minors, resulting in a national youth mental health catastrophe.”

But with few days left in the current session, House leadership hasn’t set a floor vote for a measure approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee in September. The bill’s companion in the Senate passed on a 91-3 vote in July.

“We are trying to get it done,” Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., said in a recent hallway interview in the Capitol. “I’m working like heck to get it done.” Bilirakis is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Innovation, Data, and Commerce, whose jurisdiction includes data privacy, security and consumer protection.

—CQ-Roll Call

Alaska could be facing its first long-term decline in population and resulting economic slowdown

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — After 11 straight years with more residents leaving Alaska than arriving, the state for the first time projects a long-term population decline, according to a report released Monday from the state's demographer.

And as Alaskans keep getting older, the number of deaths will rise while births keep falling, adding to the population decline looking out to 2050, according to David Howell, state demographer, writing in the state's latest Alaska Economic Trends magazine.

The projections, if they hold, could have important consequences, he said in an interview Tuesday. Fewer students will be available to fill the state's public schools and universities.

Also, fewer people would continue to constrain the local workforce, requiring businesses to rely on importing workers. The nonresident worker rate is already at its highest point in years, the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development recently said.

—Anchorage Daily News, Alaska

Colorado sees rise in walking pneumonia, particularly among very young children

DENVER — Colorado has experienced a surge in walking pneumonia this fall, most notably among very young children who aren’t usually as susceptible to the illness, according to health officials.

Bacterial infections that cause the mild lung infection reemerged nationwide this year for the first time since the start of the pandemic, peaking in August after increasing sharply since the spring, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In Colorado, walking pneumonia cases peaked a little later, in September, but the illness is expected to continue spreading at a high rate into the new year, said Dr. Kevin Messacar, an infectious disease specialist at Children’s Hospital Colorado.

Doctors also are discovering cases more frequently in younger children, aged 2 to 4, despite the infections being historically more common in school-aged children, he said.

—The Denver Post

NATO seeks to position Kyiv for truce talks with arms plan shift

Ukraine’s allies have shifted their focus from seeking a victory to trying to put President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the best position to counter Russian advances or negotiate a possible ceasefire, people familiar with the matter said.

For now, that means NATO is redoubling efforts to rush more weapons to the war-torn country as Kyiv forces are slowly losing ground, raising the specter the eventual truce may freeze the conflict with swathes of Ukraine under occupation by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s troops.

Putin has shown no willingness to discuss a ceasefire, but the return of Donald Trump to the White House has focused NATO allies on how to shore up the political will to sustain the nearly three-year war as morale starts to fade.

As foreign ministers gathered in Brussels this week have focused on how to supply more weapons, governments have begun considering various negotiated scenarios to end the war, the people said.

—Bloomberg News